CANON OF WESTMINSTER, RECTOR OF EVERSLEY,AND CHAPLAIN IN ORDINARY TO THE QUEEN AND PRINCE OF WALES,

_NEW EDITION_,

WITH A PREFATORY MEMOIR BY THOMAS HUGHES, ESQ., Q.C.,

AUTHOR OF "TOM BROWN'S SCHOOL DAYS."

CONTENTS.

PREFATORY MEMOIR

CHEAP CLOTHES AND NASTY

PREFACE--TO THE UNDERGRADUATES OF CAMBRIDGE

PREFACE--TO THE WORKING MEN OF GREAT BRITAIN

CHAPTER I. A POET'S CHILDHOOD

CHAPTER II. THE TAILORS' WORKROOM

CHAPTER III. SANDY MACKAYE

CHAPTER IV. TAILORS AND SOLDIERS

CHAPTER V. THE SCEPTIC'S MOTHER

CHAPTER VI. THE DULWICH GALLERY

CHAPTER VII. FIRST LOVE

CHAPTER VIII. LIGHT IN A DARK PLACE

CHAPTER IX. POETRY AND POETS

CHAPTER X. HOW FOLKS TURN CHARTISTS

CHAPTER XI. "THE YARD WHERE THE GENTLEMEN LIVE"

CHAPTER XII. CAMBRIDGE

CHAPTER XIII. THE LOST IDOL FOUND

CHAPTER XIV. A CATHEDRAL TOWN

CHAPTER XV. THE MAN OF SCIENCE

CHAPTER XVI. CULTIVATED WOMEN

CHAPTER XVII. SERMONS IN STONES

CHAPTER XVIII. MY FALL

CHAPTER XIX. SHORT AND SAD

CHAPTER XX. PEGASUS IN HARNESS

CHAPTER XXI. THE SWEATER'S DEN

CHAPTER XXII. AN EMERSONIAN SERMON

CHAPTER XXIII. THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

CHAPTER XXIV. THE TOWNSMAN'S SERMON TO THE GOWNSMAN

CHAPTER XXV. A TRUE NOBLEMAN

CHAPTER XXVI. THE TRIUMPHANT AUTHOR

CHAPTER XXVII. THE PLUSH BREECHES TRAGEDY

CHAPTER XXVIII. THE MEN WHO ARE EATEN

CHAPTER XXIX. THE TRIAL

CHAPTER XXX. PRISON THOUGHTS

CHAPTER XXXI. THE NEW CHURCH

CHAPTER XXXII. THE TOWER OF BABEL

CHAPTER XXXIII. A PATRIOT'S REWARD

CHAPTER XXXIV. THE TENTH OF APRIL

CHAPTER XXXV. THE LOWEST DEEP

CHAPTER XXXVI. DREAMLAND

CHAPTER XXXVII. THE TRUE DEMAGOGUE

CHAPTER XXXVIII. MIRACLES ASD SCIENCE

CHAPTER XXXIX. NEMESIS

CHAPTER XL. PRIESTS AND PEOPLE

CHAPTER XLI. FREEDOM, EQUALITY, AND BROTHERHOOD

PREFATORY MEMOIR.

The tract appended to this preface has been chosen to accompany thisreprint of _Alton Locke_ in order to illustrate, from another side, adistinct period in the life of Charles Kingsley, which stands out very muchby itself. It may be taken roughly to have extended from 1848 to 1856. Ithas been thought that they require a preface, and I have undertaken towrite it, as one of the few survivors of those who were most intimatelyassociated with the author at the time to which the works refer.

No easy task; for, look at them from what point we will, these years mustbe allowed to cover an anxious and critical time in modern English history;but, above all, in the history of the working classes. In the first of themthe Chartist agitation came to a head and burst, and was followed by thegreat movement towards association, which, developing in two directions andby two distinct methods--represented respectively by the amalgamated TradesUnions, and Co-operative Societies--has in the intervening years entirelychanged the conditions of the labour question in England, and the relationsof the working to the upper and middle classes. It is with this, the socialand industrial side of the history of those years, that we are mainlyconcerned here. Charles Kingsley has left other and more important writingsof those years. But these are beside our purpose, which is to give somesuch slight sketch of him as may be possible within the limits of apreface, in the character in which he was first widely known, as the mostoutspoken and powerful of those who took the side of the labouring classes,at a critical time--the crisis in a word, when they abandoned their oldpolitical weapons, for the more potent one of union and association, whichhas since carried them so far.

To no one of all those to whom his memory is very dear can this seem asuperfluous task, for no writer was ever more misunderstood or betterabused at the time, and after the lapse of almost a quarter of a centurythe misunderstanding would seem still to hold its ground. For through allthe many notices of him which appeared after his death in last January,there ran the same apologetic tone as to this part of his life's work.While generally, and as a rule cordially, recognizing his merits as anauthor and a man, the writers seemed to agree in passing lightly over thisground. When it was touched it was in a tone of apology, sometimes tingedwith sarcasm, as in the curt notice in the "Times"--"He was understood, tobe the Parson Lot of those 'Politics for the People' which made no littlenoise in their time, and as Parson Lot he declared in burning languagethat to his mind the fault in the 'People's Charter' was that it did notgo nearly far enough." And so the writer turns away, as do most of hisbrethren, leaving probably some such impression as this on the minds ofmost of their readers--"Young men of power and genius are apt to start withwild notions. He was no exception. Parson Lot's sayings and doings may wellbe pardoned for what Charles Kingsley said and did in after years; so letus drop a decent curtain over them, and pass on."

Now, as very nearly a generation has passed since that signature used toappear at the foot of some of the most noble and vigorous writing of ourtime, readers of to-day are not unlikely to accept this view, and so tofind further confirmation and encouragement in the example of Parson Lotfor the mischievous and cowardly distrust of anything like enthusiasmamongst young men, already sadly too prevalent in England. If it were onlyas a protest against this "surtout point de zele" spirit, against which itwas one of Charles Kingsley's chief tasks to fight with all his strength,it is well that the facts should be set right. This done, readers maysafely be left to judge what need there is for the apologetic tone inconnection with the name, the sayings, and doings of Parson Lot.

My first meeting with him was in the autumn of 1848, at the house of Mr.Maurice, who had lately been appointed Reader of Lincolns Inn. No parochialwork is attached to that post, so Mr. Maurice had undertaken the charge ofa small district in the parish in which he lived, and had set a number ofyoung men, chiefly students of the Inns of Court who had been attracted byhis teaching, to work in it. Once a week, on Monday evenings, they usedto meet at his house for tea, when their own work was reported upon andtalked over. Suggestions were made and plans considered; and afterwards achapter of the Bible was read and discussed. Friends and old pupils of Mr.Maurice's, residing in the country, or in distant parts of London, werein the habit of coming occasionally to these meetings, amongst whom wasCharles Kingsley. He had been recently appointed Rector of Eversley, andwas already well known as the author of _The Saint's Tragedy_, his firstwork, which contained the germ of much that he did afterwards.

His poem, and the high regard and admiration which Mr. Maurice had forhim, made him a notable figure in that small society, and his presence wasalways eagerly looked for. What impressed me most about him when we firstmet was, his affectionate deference to Mr. Maurice, and the vigour andincisiveness of everything he said and did. He had the power of cuttingout what he meant in a few clear words, beyond any one I have ever met.The next thing that struck one was the ease with which he could turn fromplayfulness, or even broad humour, to the deepest earnest. At first I thinkthis startled most persons, until they came to find out the real deepnature of the man; and that his broadest humour had its root in a faithwhich realized, with extraordinary vividness, the fact that God's Spiritis actively abroad in the world, and that Christ is in every man, and madehim hold fast, even in his saddest moments,--and sad moments were notinfrequent with him,--the assurance that, in spite of all appearances, theworld was going right, and would go right somehow, "Not your way, or myway, but God's way." The contrast of his humility and audacity, of hisdistrust in himself and confidence in himself, was one of those puzzleswhich meet us daily in this world of paradox. But both qualities gave him apeculiar power for the work he had to do at that time, with which the nameof Parson Lot is associated.

It was at one of these gatherings, towards the end of 1847 or early in1848, when Kingsley found himself in a minority of one, that he saidjokingly, he felt much as Lot must have felt in the Cities of the Plain,when he seemed as one that mocked to his sons-in-law. The name Parson Lotwas then and there suggested, and adopted by him, as a familiar _nom deplume_, He used it from 1848 up to 1856; at first constantly, latterlymuch more rarely. But the name was chiefly made famous by his writings in"Politics for the People," the "Christian Socialist," and the "Journal ofAssociation," three periodicals which covered the years from '48 to '52; by"Alton Locke"; and by tracts and pamphlets, of which the best known, "CheapClothes and Nasty," is now republished.

In order to understand and judge the sayings and writings of Parson Lotfairly, it is necessary to recall the condition of the England of thatday. Through the winter of 1847-8, amidst wide-spread distress, the cloudof discontent, of which Chartism was the most violent symptom, had beengrowing darker and more menacing, while Ireland was only held down by mainforce. The breaking-out of the revolution on the Continent in Februaryincreased the danger. In March there were riots in London, Glasgow,Edinburgh, Liverpool, and other large towns. On April 7th, "the Crownand Government Security Bill," commonly called "the Gagging Act," wasintroduced by the Government, the first reading carried by 265 to 24,and the second a few days later by 452 to 35. On the 10th of April theGovernment had to fill London with troops, and put the Duke of Wellingtonin command, who barricaded the bridges and Downing Street, garrisoned theBank and other public buildings, and closed the Horse Guards.

When the momentary crisis had passed, the old soldier declared in the Houseof Lords that "no great society had ever suffered as London had during thepreceding days," while the Home Secretary telegraphed to all the chiefmagistrates of the kingdom the joyful news that the peace had been keptin London. In April, the Lord Chancellor, in introducing the Crown andGovernment Security Bill in the House of Lords, referred to the factthat "meetings were daily held, not only in London, but in most of themanufacturing towns, the avowed object of which was to array the peopleagainst the constituted authority of these realms." For months afterwardsthe Chartist movement, though plainly subsiding, kept the Government inconstant anxiety; and again in June, the Bank, the Mint, the Custom House,and other public offices were filled with troops, and the Houses ofParliament were not only garrisoned but provisioned as if for a siege.

From that time, all fear of serious danger passed away. The Chartists werecompletely discouraged, and their leaders in prison; and the upper andmiddle classes were recovering rapidly from the alarm which had converteda million of them into special constables, and were beginning to doubtwhether the crisis had been so serious after all, whether the disaffectionhad ever been more than skin deep. At this juncture a series of articlesappeared in the _Morning Chronicle_ on "London Labour and the London Poor,"which startled the well-to-do classes out of their jubilant and scornfulattitude, and disclosed a state of things which made all fair minded peoplewonder, not that there had been violent speaking and some rioting, but thatthe metropolis had escaped the scenes which had lately been enacted inParis, Vienna, Berlin, and other Continental capitals.

It is only by an effort that one can now realize the strain to which thenation was subjected during that winter and spring, and which, of course,tried every individual man also, according to the depth and earnestness ofhis political and social convictions and sympathies. The group of men whowere working under Mr. Maurice were no exceptions to the rule. The work ofteaching and visiting was not indeed neglected, but the larger questionswhich were being so strenuously mooted--the points of the people's charter,the right of public meeting, the attitude of the labouring-class to theother classes--absorbed more and more of their attention. Kingsley wasvery deeply impressed with the gravity and danger of the crisis--more so,I think, than almost any of his friends; probably because, as a countryparson, he was more directly in contact with one class of the poor than anyof them. How deeply he felt for the agricultural poor, how faithfully hereflected the passionate and restless sadness of the time, may be read inthe pages of "Yeast," which was then coming out in "Fraser." As the wintermonths went on this sadness increased, and seriously affected his health.

"I have a longing," he wrote to Mr. Ludlow, "to do _something_--what, Godonly knows. You say, 'he that believeth will not make haste,' but I thinkhe that believeth must _make_ haste, or get damned with the rest. But Iwill do anything that anybody likes--I have no confidence in myself or inanything but God. I am not great enough for such times, alas! '_ne pourfaire des vers_,' as Camille Desmoulins said."

This longing became so strong as the crisis in April approached, that hecame to London to see what could be done, and to get help from Mr. Maurice,and those whom he had been used to meet at his house. He found them adivided body. The majority were sworn in as special constables, and severalhad openly sided with the Chartists; while he himself, with Mr. Maurice andMr. Ludlow, were unable to take active part with either side. The followingextract from a letter to his wife, written on the 9th of April, shows howhe was employed during these days, and how he found the work which he wasin search of, the first result of which was the publication of "those'Politics for the People' which made no small noise in their times"--

"_April_ 11th, 1848.--The events of a week have been crowded into a fewhours. I was up till four this morning--writing posting placards, underMaurice's auspices, one of which is to be got out to-morrow morning, therest when we can get money. Could you not beg a few sovereigns somewhereto help these poor wretches to the truest alms?--to words, texts from thePsalms, anything which may keep even one man from cutting his brother'sthroat to-morrow or Friday? _Pray, pray, help us._ Maurice has given mea highest proof of confidence. He has taken me to counsel, and we are tohave meetings for prayer and study, when I come up to London, and we are tobring out a new set of real "Tracts for the Times," addressed to the higherorders. Maurice is _a la hauteur des circonstances_--determined to make adecisive move. He says, if the Oxford Tracts did wonders, why should notwe? Pray for us. A glorious future is opening, and both Maurice and Ludlowseem to have driven away all my doubts and sorrow, and I see the blue skyagain, and my Father's face!"

The arrangements for the publication of "Politics for the People" were soonmade; and in one of the earliest numbers, for May, 1848, appeared the paperwhich furnishes what ground there is for the statement, already quoted,that "he declared, in burning language, that the People's Charter did notgo far enough" It was No. 1 of "Parson Lot's Letters to the Chartists." Letus read it with its context.

"I am not one of those who laugh at your petition of the 10th of April: Ihave no patience with those who do. Suppose there were but 250,000 honestnames on that sheet--suppose the Charter itself were all stuff--yet youhave still a right to fair play, a patient hearing, an honourable andcourteous answer, whichever way it may be. But _my only quarrel with theCharter is that it does not go far enough in reform_. I want to see you_free_, but I do not see that what you ask for will give you what you want.I think you have fallen into just the same mistake as the rich, of whom youcomplain--the very mistake which has been our curse and our nightmare. Imean the mistake of fancying that _legislative_ reform is _social_ reform,or that men's hearts can be changed by Act of Parliament. If any one willtell me of a country where a Charter made the rogues honest, or the idleindustrious, I will alter my opinion of the Charter, but not till then. Itdisappointed me bitterly when I read it. It seemed a harmless cry enough,but a poor, bald constitution-mongering cry as ever I heard. The French cryof 'organization of labour' is worth a thousand of it, but yet that doesnot go to the bottom of the matter by many a mile." And then, after tellinghow he went to buy a number of the Chartist newspaper, and found it in ashop which sold "flash songsters," "the Swell's Guide," and "dirty milksopFrench novels," and that these publications, and a work called "The Devil'sPulpit," were puffed in its columns, he goes on, "These are strange times.I thought the devil used to befriend tyrants and oppressors, but he seemsto have profited by Burns' advice to 'tak a thought and mend.' I thoughtthe struggling freeman's watchword was: 'God sees my wrongs.' 'He hathtaken the matter into His own hands.' 'The poor committeth himself untoHim, for He is the helper of the friendless.' But now the devil seems allat once to have turned philanthropist and patriot, and to intend himself tofight the good cause, against which he has been fighting ever since Adam'stime. I don't deny, my friends, it is much cheaper and pleasanter to bereformed by the devil than by God; for God will only reform society on thecondition of our reforming every man his own self--while the devil is quiteready to help us to mend the laws and the parliament, earth and heaven,without ever starting such an impertinent and 'personal' request, as thata man should mend himself. _That_ liberty of the subject he will alwaysrespect."--"But I say honestly, whomsoever I may offend, the more I haveread of your convention speeches and newspaper articles, the more I amconvinced that too many of you are trying to do God's work with the devil'stools. What is the use of brilliant language about peace, and the majestyof order, and universal love, though it may all be printed in letters afoot long, when it runs in the same train with ferocity, railing, mad,one-eyed excitement, talking itself into a passion like a street woman? Doyou fancy that after a whole column spent in stirring men up to fury, a fewtwaddling copybook headings about 'the sacred duty of order' will lay thestorm again? What spirit is there but the devil's spirit in bloodthirstythreats of revenge?"--"I denounce the weapons which you have been deludedinto employing to gain you your rights, and the indecency and profligacywhich you are letting be mixed up with them! Will you strengthen andjustify your enemies? Will you disgust and cripple your friends? Will yougo out of your way to do wrong? When you can be free by fair means will youtry foul? When you might keep the name of Liberty as spotless as the Heavenfrom which she comes, will you defile her with blasphemy, beastliness, andblood? When the cause of the poor is the cause of Almighty God, will youtake it out of His hands to entrust it to the devil? These are bitterquestions, but as you answer them so will you prosper."

In Letter II. he tells them that if they have followed, a different"Reformer's Guide" from his, it is "mainly the fault of us parsons, whohave never told you that the true 'Reformer's Guide,' the true poor man'sbook, the true 'Voice of God against tyrants, idlers, and humbugs, was theBible.' The Bible demands for the poor as much, and more, than they demandfor themselves; it expresses the deepest yearnings of the poor man's heartfar more nobly, more searchingly, more daringly, more eloquently than anymodern orator has done. I say, it gives a ray of hope--say rather a certaindawn of a glorious future, such as no universal suffrage, free trade,communism, organization of labour, or any other Morrison's-pill-measure cangive--and yet of a future, which will embrace all that is good in these--afuture of conscience, of justice, of freedom, when idlers and oppressorsshall no more dare to plead parchments and Acts of Parliament for theiriniquities. I say the Bible promises this, not in a few places only, butthroughout; it is the thought which runs through the whole Bible, justicefrom God to those whom men oppress, glory from God to those whom mendespise. Does that look like the invention of tyrants, and prelates? Youmay sneer, but give me a fair hearing, and if I do not prove my words, thencall me the same hard name which I shall call any man, who having readthe Bible, denies that it is the poor man's comfort and the rich man'swarning."

In subsequent numbers (as afterwards in the "Christian Socialist," and the"Journal of Association") he dwells in detail on the several popular cries,such as, "a fair day's wage for a fair day's work," illustrating them fromthe Bible, urging his readers to take it as the true Radical Reformer'sGuide, if they were longing for the same thing as he was longing for--tosee all humbug, idleness, injustice, swept out of England. His othercontributions to these periodicals consisted of some of his best shortpoems: "The Day of the Lord;" "The Three Fishers;" "Old and New," andothers; of a series of Letters on the Frimley murder; of a short storycalled "The Nun's Pool," and of some most charming articles on the picturesin the National Gallery, and the collections in the British Museum,intended to teach the English people how to use and enjoy their ownproperty.

I think I know every line which was ever published under the signatureParson Lot; and I take it upon myself to say, that there is in all that"burning language" nothing more revolutionary than the extracts given abovefrom his letters to the Chartists.

But, it may be said, apart from his writings, did not Parson Lot declarehimself a Chartist in a public meeting in London; and did he not preach ina London pulpit a political sermon, which brought up the incumbent, who hadinvited him, to protest from the altar against the doctrine which had justbeen delivered?

Yes! Both statements are true. Here are the facts as to the speech, thoseas to the sermon I will give in their place. In the early summer of 1848some of those who felt with C. Kingsley that the "People's Charter" had nothad fair play or courteous treatment, and that those who signed it had realwrongs to complain of, put themselves into communication with the leaders,and met and talked with them. At last it seemed that the time was come forsome more public meeting, and one was called at the Cranbourn Tavern, overwhich Mr. Maurice presided. After the president's address several verybitter speeches followed, and a vehement attack was specially directedagainst the Church and the clergy. The meeting waxed warm, and seemedlikely to come to no good, when Kingsley rose, folded his arms across hischest, threw his head back, and began--with the stammer which always cameat first when he was much moved, but which fixed every one's attention atonce--"I am a Church of England parson"--a long pause--"and a Chartist;"and then he went on to explain how far he thought them right in their claimfor a reform of Parliament; how deeply he sympathized with their sense ofthe injustice of the law as it affected them; how ready he was to help inall ways to get these things set right; and then to denounce their methods,in very much the same terms as I have already quoted from his letters tothe Chartists. Probably no one who was present ever heard a speech whichtold more at the time. I had a singular proof that the effect did notpass away. The most violent speaker on that occasion was one of the staffof the leading Chartist newspaper. I lost sight of him entirely for morethan twenty years, and saw him again, a little grey shrivelled man, byKingsley's side, at the grave of Mr. Maurice, in the cemetery at Hampstead.

The experience of this meeting encouraged its promoters to continue theseries, which they did with a success which surprised no one more thanthemselves. Kingsley's opinion of them may be gathered from the followingextract from a letter to his wife:--

"_June_ 4, 1848, Evening.--A few words before bed. I have just come homefrom the meeting. No one spoke but working men, gentlemen I should callthem, in every sense of the term. Even _I_ was perfectly astonished by thecourtesy, the reverence to Maurice, who sat there like an Apollo, theireloquence, the brilliant, nervous, well-chosen language, the deep simpleearnestness, the rightness and moderation of their thoughts. And these arethe _Chartists_, these are the men who are called fools and knaves--who arerefused the rights which are bestowed on every profligate fop.... It isGod's cause, fear not He will be with us, and if He is with us, who shallbe against us?"

But while he was rapidly winning the confidence of the working classes, hewas raising up a host of more or less hostile critics in other quarters byhis writings in "Politics for the People," which journal was in the midstof its brief and stormy career. At the end of June, 1848, he writes to Mr.Ludlow, one of the editors--

"I fear my utterances have had a great deal to do with the 'Politics''unpopularity. I have got worse handled than any of you by poor and rich.There is one comfort, that length of ears is in the donkey species alwayscompensated by toughness of hide. But it is a pleasing prospect for me (ifyou knew all that has been said and written about Parson Lot), when I lookforward and know that my future explosions are likely to become more andmore obnoxious to the old gentlemen, who stuff their ears with cotton, andthen swear the children are not screaming."

"Politics for the People" was discontinued for want of funds; but itssupporters, including all those who were working under Mr. Maurice--who,however much they might differ in opinions, were of one mind as to thedanger of the time, and the duty of every man to do his utmost to meet thatdanger--were bent upon making another effort. In the autumn, Mr. Ludlow,and others of their number who spent the vacation abroad, came back withaccounts of the efforts at association which were being made by theworkpeople of Paris.

The question of starting such associations in England as the best meansof fighting the slop system--which the "Chronicle" was showing to lie atthe root of the misery and distress which bred Chartists--was anxiouslydebated. It was at last resolved to make the effort, and to identify thenew journal with the cause of Association, and to publish a set of tractsin connection with it, of which Kingsley undertook to write the first,"Cheap Clothes and Nasty."

So "the Christian Socialist" was started, with Mr. Ludlow for editor, thetracts on Christian Socialism begun under Mr. Maurice's supervision, andthe society for promoting working-men's associations was formed out of thebody of men who were already working with Mr. Maurice. The great majorityof these joined, though the name was too much for others. The question oftaking it had been much considered, and it was decided, on the whole, to bebest to do so boldly, even though it might cost valuable allies. Kingsleywas of course consulted on every point, though living now almost entirelyat Eversley, and his views as to the proper policy to be pursued may begathered best from the following extracts from letters of his to Mr.Ludlow--

"We must touch the workman at all his points of interest. First andforemost at association--but also at political rights, as grounded bothon the Christian ideal of the Church, and on the historic facts of theAnglo-Saxon race. Then national education, sanitary and dwelling-housereform, the free sale of land, and corresponding reform of the land laws,moral improvement of the family relation, public places of recreation (onwhich point I am very earnest), and I think a set of hints from history,and sayings of great men, of which last I have been picking up from Plato,Demosthenes, &c."

1849.--"This is a puling, quill-driving, soft-handed age--among ourown rank, I mean. Cowardice is called meekness; to temporize is to becharitable and reverent; to speak truth, and shame the devil, is tooffend weak brethren, who, somehow or other, never complain of their weakconsciences till you hit them hard. And yet, my dear fellow, I still remainof my old mind--that it is better to say too much than too little, and moremerciful to knock a man down with a pick-axe than to prick him to deathwith pins. The world says, No. It hates anything demonstrative, or violent(except on its own side), or unrefined."

1849.--"The question of property is one of these cases. We must face it inthis age--simply because it faces us."--"I want to commit myself--I wantto make others commit themselves. No man can fight the devil with a longladle, however pleasant it may be to eat with him with one. A man neverfishes well in the morning till he has tumbled into the water."

And the counsels of Parson Lot had undoubtedly great weight in giving anaggressive tone both to the paper and the society. But if he was largelyresponsible for the fighting temper of the early movement, he, at any rate,never shirked his share of the fighting. His name was the butt at which allshafts were aimed. As Lot "seemed like one that mocked to his sons-in-law,"so seemed the Parson to the most opposite sections of the British nation.As a friend wrote of him at the time, he "had at any rate escaped thecurse of the false prophets, 'Woe unto you when all men shall speak wellof you.'" Many of the attacks and criticisms were no doubt aimed not somuch at him personally as at the body of men with whom, and for whom,he was working; but as he was (except Mr. Maurice) the only one whosename was known, he got the lion's share of all the abuse. The stormbroke on him from all points of the compass at once. An old friend andfellow-contributor to "Politics for the People," led the Conservativeattack, accusing him of unsettling the minds of the poor, making themdiscontented, &c. Some of the foremost Chartists wrote virulently againsthim for "attempting to justify the God of the Old Testament," who, theymaintained, was unjust and cruel, and, at any rate, not the God "of thepeople." The political economists fell on him for his anti-Malthusianbelief, that the undeveloped fertility of the earth need not be overtakenby population within any time which it concerned us to think about. Thequarterlies joined in the attack on his economic heresies. The "DailyNews" opened a cross fire on him from the common-sense Liberal battery,denouncing the "revolutionary nonsense, which is termed ChristianSocialisms"; and, after some balancing, the "Guardian," representing inthe press the side of the Church to which he leant, turned upon him in avery cruel article on the republication of "Yeast" (originally writtenfor "Fraser's Magazine"), and accused him of teaching heresy in doctrine,and in morals "that a certain amount of youthful profligacy does no realpermanent harm to the character, perhaps strengthens it for a useful andreligious life."

In this one instance Parson Lot fairly lost his temper, and answered, "aswas answered to the Jesuit of old--_mentiris impudentissime_." With therest he seemed to enjoy the conflict and "kept the ring," like a candidatefor the wrestling championship in his own county of Devon against allcomers, one down another come on.

The fact is, that Charles Kingsley was born a fighting man, and believedin bold attack. "No human power ever beat back a resolute forlorn hope,"he used to say; "to be got rid of, they must be blown back with grape andcanister," because the attacking party have all the universe behind them,the defence only that small part which is shut up in their walls. And hefelt most strongly at this time that hard fighting was needed. "It is apity" he writes to Mr. Ludlow, "that telling people what's right, won'tmake them do it; but not a new fact, though that ass the world has quiteforgotten it; and assures you that dear sweet 'incompris' mankind onlywants to be told the way to the millennium to walk willingly into it--whichis a lie. If you want to get mankind, if not to heaven, at least out ofhell, kick them out." And again, a little later on, in urging the policywhich the "Christian Socialist" should still follow--

1851.--"It seems to me that in such a time as this the only way to fightagainst the devil is to attack him. He has got it too much his own wayto meddle with us if we don't meddle with him. But the very devil hasfeelings, and if you prick him will roar...whereby you, at all events, gainthe not-every-day-of-the-week-to-be-attained benefit of finding out wherehe is. Unless, indeed, as I suspect, the old rascal plays ventriloquist (asbig grasshoppers do when you chase them), and puts you on a wrong scent,by crying 'Fire!' out of saints' windows. Still, the odds are if you pricklustily enough, you make him roar unawares."

The memorials of his many controversies lie about in the periodicals ofthat time, and any one who cares to hunt them up will be well repaid, andstruck with the vigour of the defence, and still more with the completechange in public opinion, which has brought the England of to-day cleanround to the side of Parson Lot. The most complete perhaps of his fugitivepieces of this kind is the pamphlet, "Who are the friends of Order?"published by J. W. Parker and Son, in answer to a very fair and moderatearticle in "Fraser's Mazagine." The Parson there points out how he andhis friends were "cursed by demagogues as aristocrats, and by tories asdemocrats, when in reality they were neither." And urges that the very factof the Continent being overrun with Communist fanatics is the best argumentfor preaching association here.

But though he faced his adversaries bravely, it must not be inferred thathe did not feel the attacks and misrepresentations very keenly. In manyrespects, though housed in a strong and vigorous body, his spirit was anexceedingly tender and sensitive one. I have often thought that at thistime his very sensitiveness drove him to say things more broadly andincisively, because he was speaking as it were somewhat against the grain,and knew that the line he was taking would be misunderstood, and woulddisplease and alarm those with whom he had most sympathy. For he was bynature and education an aristocrat in the best sense of the word, believedthat a landed aristocracy was a blessing to the country, and that nocountry would gain the highest liberty without such a class, holding itsown position firmly, but in sympathy with the people. He liked their habitsand ways, and keenly enjoyed their society. Again, he was full of reverencefor science and scientific men, and specially for political economy andeconomists, and desired eagerly to stand well with them. And it was a mostbitter trial to him to find himself not only in sharp antagonism withtraders and employers of labour, which he looked for, but with theseclasses also.

On the other hand many of the views and habits of those with whom he foundhimself associated were very distasteful to him. In a new social movement,such as that of association as it took shape in 1849-50, there is certainto be great attraction for restless and eccentric persons, and in pointof fact many such joined it. The beard movement was then in its infancy,and any man except a dragoon who wore hair on his face was regarded as adangerous character, with whom it was compromising to be seen in any publicplace--a person in sympathy with _sansculottes_, and who would dispensewith trousers but for his fear of the police. Now whenever Kingsleyattended a meeting of the promoters of association in London, he wassure to find himself in the midst of bearded men, vegetarians, and othereccentric persons, and the contact was very grievous to him. "As if weshall not be abused enough," he used to say, "for what we must say and dowithout being saddled with mischievous nonsense of this kind." To lesssensitive men the effect of eccentricity upon him was almost comic, aswhen on one occasion he was quite upset and silenced by the appearance ofa bearded member of Council at an important deputation in a straw hat andblue plush gloves. He did not recover from the depression produced by thosegloves for days. Many of the workmen, too, who were most prominent in theAssociations were almost as little to his mind--windy inflated kind ofpersons, with a lot of fine phrases in their mouths which they did not knowthe meaning of.

But in spite of all that was distasteful to him in some of itssurroundings, the co-operative movement (as it is now called) entirelyapproved itself to his conscience and judgment, and mastered him so that hewas ready to risk whatever had to be risked in fighting its battle. Oftenin those days, seeing how loath Charles Kingsley was to take in hand, muchof the work which Parson Lot had to do, and how fearlessly and thoroughlyhe did it after all, one was reminded of the old Jewish prophets, such asAmos the herdsman of Tekoa--"I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet'sson, but I was an herdsman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit: and the Lordtook me as I followed the flock, and said unto me, Go prophesy unto mypeople Israel."

The following short extracts from his correspondence with Mr. Ludlow, as tothe conduct of the "Christian Socialist," and his own contributions to it,may perhaps serve to show how his mind was working at this time:--

_Sept., 1850_.--"I cannot abide the notion of Branch Churches or Free(sect) Churches, and unless my whole train of thought alters, I will resistthe temptation as coming from the devil. Where I am I am doing God's work,and when the Church is ripe for more, the Head of the Church will put themeans our way. You seem to fancy that we may have a _Deus quidam Deceptor_over us after all. If I did I'd go and blow my dirty brains out and be ridof the whole thing at once. I would indeed. If God, when people ask Him toteach and guide them, does not; if when they confess themselves rogues andfools to Him, and beg Him to make them honest and wise, He does not, butdarkens them, and deludes them into bogs and pitfalls, is he a Father? Youfall back into Judaism, friend."

_Dec., 1850_.--"Jeremiah is my favourite book now. It has taught me morethan tongue can tell. But I am much disheartened, and am minded to speakno more words in this name (Parson Lot); and yet all these bullyings teachone, correct one, warn one--show one that God is not leaving one to goone's own way. 'Christ reigns,' quoth Luther."

It was at this time, in the winter of 1850, that "Alton Locke" waspublished. He had been engaged on it for more than a year, working at itin the midst of all his controversies. The following extracts from hiscorrespondence with Mr. Ludlow will tell readers more about it than anycriticism, if they have at all realized the time at which it was written,or his peculiar work in that time.

_February, 1849_.--"I have hopes from the book I am writing, which hasrevealed itself to me so rapidly and methodically that I feel it comesdown from above, and that only my folly can spoil it, which I pray againstdaily."

1849.--"I think the notion a good one (referring to other work for thepaper which he had been asked to do), but I feel no inspiration at allthat way; and I dread being tempted to more and more bitterness, harshjudgment, and evil speaking. I dread it. I am afraid sometimes I shall endin universal snarling. Besides, my whole time is taken up with my book,and _that_ I do feel inspired to write. But there is something else whichweighs awfully on my mind--(the first number of _Cooper's Journal_, whichhe sent me the other day). Here is a man of immense influence openlypreaching Strausseanism to the workmen, and in a fair, honest, manly waywhich must tell. Who will answer him? Who will answer Strauss? [Footnote:He did the work himself. After many interviews, and a long correspondencewith him, Thomas Cooper changed his views, and has been lecturing andpreaching for many years as a Christian.] Who will denounce him as a vilearistocrat, robbing the poor man of his Saviour--of the ground of alldemocracy, all freedom, all association--of the Charter itself? _Oh, simihi centum voces et ferrea lingua!_ Think about _that_."

_January, 1850_.--"A thousand thanks for your letter, though it only showsme what I have long suspected, that I know hardly enough yet to make thebook what it should be. As you have made a hole, you must help to fill it.Can you send me any publication which would give me a good notion of theIndependents' view of politics, also one which would give a good notion ofthe Fox-Emerson-Strauss school of Blague-Unitarianism, which is supersedingdissent just now. It was with the ideal of Calvinism, and its ultimatebearing on the people's cause, that I wished to deal. I believe that theremust be internecine war between the people's church--_i.e._, the futuredevelopment of Catholic Christianity, and Calvinism even in its mildestform, whether in the Establishment or out of it--and I have counted thecost and will give every _party_ its slap in their turn. But I will alter,as far as I can, all you dislike."

_August, 1850_.--"How do you know, dearest man, that I was not right inmaking the Alton of the second volume different from the first? In showingthe individuality of the man swamped and warped by the routine of miseryand discontent? How do you know that the historic and human interest of thebook was not intended to end with Mackay's death, in whom old radicalismdies, 'not having received the promises,' to make room for the radicalismof the future? How do you know that the book from that point was notintended to take a mythic and prophetic form, that those dreams come in forthe very purpose of taking the story off the ground of the actual into thedeeper and wider one of the ideal, and that they do actually do what theywere intended to do? How do you know that my idea of carrying out Eleanor'ssermons in practice were just what I could not--and if I could, dared not,give? that all that I could do was to leave them as seed, to grow by itselfin many forms, in many minds, instead of embodying them in some actionwhich would have been both as narrow as my own idiosyncrasy, gain thereproach of insanity, and be simply answered by--'If such things have beendone, where are they?' and lastly, how do you know that I had not a specialmeaning in choosing a civilized fine lady as my missionary, one of a classwhich, as it does exist, God must have something for it to do, and, asit seems, plenty to do, from the fact that a few gentlemen whom I couldmention, not to speak of Fowell Buxtons, Howards, Ashleys, &c., havedone, more for the people in one year than they have done for themselvesin fifty? If I had made her an organizer, as well as a preacher, yourcomplaint might have been just. My dear man, the artist is a law untohimself--or rather God is a law to him, when he prays, as I have earnestlyday after day about this book--to be taught how to say the right thingin the right way--and I assure you I did not get tired of my work, butlaboured as earnestly at the end as I did at the beginning. The rest ofyour criticism, especially about the interpenetration of doctrine andaction, is most true, and shall be attended to.--Your brother,

"G. K."

The next letter, on the same topic, in answer to criticisms on "AltonLocke," is addressed to a brother clergyman--

"EVERSLEY, _January 13, 1851_.

"Rec. dear Sir,--I will answer your most interesting letter as shortly asI can, and if possible in the same spirit of honesty as that in which youhave written to me.

"_First_, I do not think the cry 'Get on' to be anything but a devil's cry.The moral of my book is that the working man who tries to get on, to deserthis class and rise above it, enters into a lie, and leaves God's path forhis own--with consequences.

"_Second_, I believe that a man might be as a tailor or a costermonger,every inch of him a saint, a scholar, and a gentleman, for I have seen somefew such already. I believe hundreds of thousands more would be so, iftheir businesses were put on a Christian footing, and themselves given byeducation, sanitary reforms, &c., the means of developing their own latentcapabilities--I think the cry, 'Rise in Life,' has been excited by the veryincreasing impossibility of being anything but brutes while they strugglebelow. I know well all that is doing in the way of education, &c., butI do assert that the disease of degradation has been for the last fortyyears increasing faster than the remedy. And I believe, from experience,that when you put workmen into human dwellings, and give them a Christianeducation, so far from wishing discontentedly to rise out of their class,or to level others to it, exactly the opposite takes place. They becomesensible of the dignity of work, and they begin to see their labour as atrue calling in God's Church, now that it is cleared from the accidentiawhich made it look, in their eyes, only a soulless drudgery in a devil'sworkshop of a _World_.

"_Third_, From the advertisement of an 'English Republic' you send, I canguess who will be the writers in it, &c., &c., being behind the scenes.It will come to nought. Everything of this kind is coming to nought now.The workmen are tired of idols, ready and yearning for the Church and theGospel, and such men as your friend may laugh at Julian Harney, FeargusO'Connor, and the rest of that smoke of the pit. Only we live in a greatcrisis, and the Lord requires great things of us. The fields are white toharvest. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He may send forthlabourers into His harvest.

"_Fourth_, As to the capacities of working-men, I am afraid that yourexcellent friend will find that he has only the refuse of workingintellects to form his induction on. The devil has got the best long ago.By the neglect of the Church, by her dealing (like the Popish Church andall weak churches) only with women, children, and beggars, the creamand pith of working intellect is almost exclusively self-educated, and,therefore, alas! infidel. If he goes on as he is doing, lecturing onhistory, poetry, science, and all the things which the workmen crave for,and can only get from such men as H----, Thomas Cooper, &c., mixed up withStraussism and infidelity, he will find that he will draw back to hisLord's fold, and to his lecture room, slowly, but surely, men, whose powerswill astonish him, as they have astonished me.

"_Fifth_, The workmen whose quarrels you mention are not Christians, orsocialists either. They are of all creeds and none. We are teaching themto become Christians by teaching them gradually that true socialism, trueliberty, brotherhood, and true equality (not the carnal dead level equalityof the Communist, but the spiritual equality of the church idea, whichgives every man an equal chance of developing and using God's gifts, andrewards every man according to his work, without respect of persons) isonly to be found in loyalty and obedience to Christ. They do quarrel, butif you knew how they used to quarrel before association, the improvementsince would astonish you. And the French associations do not quarrelat all. I can send you a pamphlet on them, if you wish, written by aneyewitness, a friend of mine.

"_Sixth_, If your friend wishes to see what can be made of workmen'sbrains, let him, in God's name, go down to Harrow Weald, and there see Mr.Monro--see what he has done with his own national school boys. I have hisopinion as to the capabilities of those minds, which we, alas! now so sadlyneglect. I only ask him to go and ask of that man the question which youhave asked of me.

"_Seventh_, May I, in reference to myself and certain attacks on me, say,with all humility, that I do not speak from hearsay now, as has beenasserted, from second-hand picking and stealing out of those 'Reports onLabour and the Poor,' in the 'Morning Chronicle,' which are now beingreprinted in a separate form, and which I entreat you to read if you wishto get a clear view of the real state of the working classes.

"From my cradle, as the son of an active clergyman, I have been broughtup in the most familiar intercourse with the poor in town and country. Mymother, a second Mrs. Fry, in spirit and act. For fourteen years my fatherhas been the rector of a very large metropolitan parish--and I speak what Iknow, and testify that which I have seen. With earnest prayer, in fear andtrembling, I wrote my book, and I trust in Him to whom I prayed that He hasnot left me to my own prejudices or idols on any important point relatingto the state of the possibilities of the poor for whom He died. Any usewhich you choose you can make of this letter. If it should seem worth yourwhile to honour me with any further communications, I shall esteem them adelight, and the careful consideration of them a duty.--Believe me, Rev.and dear Sir, your faithful and obedient servant,

"C. KINGSLEY."

By this time the society for promoting associations was thoroughlyorganized, and consisted of a council of promoters, of which Kingsley was amember, and a central board, on which the managers of the associations anda delegate from each of them sat. The council had published a number oftracts, beginning with "Cheap Clothes and Nasty," which had attracted theattention of many persons, including several of the London clergy, whoconnected themselves more or less closely with the movement. Mr. Maurice,Kingsley, Hansard, and others of these, were often asked to preach onsocial questions, and when in 1851, on the opening of the Great Exhibition,immense crowds of strangers were drawn to London, they were speciallyin request. For many London incumbents threw open their churches, andorganized series of lectures, specially bearing on the great topic of theday. It was now that the incident happened which once more brought uponKingsley the charge of being a revolutionist, and which gave him more painthan all other attacks put together. One of the incumbents before referredto begged Mr. Maurice to take part in his course of lectures, and toask Kingsley to do so; assuring Mr. Maurice that he "had been readingKingsley's works with the greatest interest, and earnestly desired tosecure him as one of his lecturers." "I promised to mention this request tohim," Mr. Maurice says, "though I knew he rarely came to London, and seldompreached except in his own parish. He agreed, though at some inconvenience,that he would preach a sermon on the 'Message of the Church to theLabouring Man.' I suggested the subject to him. The incumbent intimatedthe most cordial approval of it. He had asked us, not only with a previousknowledge of our published writings, but expressly because he had thatknowledge. I pledge you my word that no questions were asked as to what wewere going to say, and no guarantees given. Mr. Kingsley took preciselythat view of the message of the Church to labouring men which every readerof his books would have expected him to take."

Kingsley took his text from Luke iv. verses 16 to 21: "The spirit of theLord is upon me because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to thepoor," &c. What then was that gospel? Kingsley asks, and goes on--"I assertthat the business for which God sends a Christian priest in a Christiannation is, to preach freedom, equality, and brotherhood in the fullest,deepest, widest meaning of those three great words; that in as far as he sodoes, he is a true priest, doing his Lord's work with his Lord's blessingon him; that in as far as he does not he is no priest at all, but a traitorto God and man"; and again, "I say that these words express the verypith and marrow of a priest's business; I say that they preach freedom,equality, and brotherhood to rich and poor for ever and ever." Then he goeson to warn his hearers how there is always a counterfeit in this world ofthe noblest message and teaching.

Thus there are two freedoms--the false, where a man is free to do what helikes; the true, where a man is free to do what he ought.

Two equalities--the false, which reduces all intellects and all characters,to a dead level, and gives the same power to the bad as to the good, to thewise as to the foolish, ending thus in practice in the grossest inequality;the true, wherein each man has equal power to educate and use whateverfaculties or talents God has given him, be they less or more. This is thedivine equality which the Church proclaims, and nothing else proclaims asshe does.

Two brotherhoods--the false, where a man chooses who shall be his brothers,and whom he will treat as such; the true, in which a man believes thatall are his brothers, not by the will of the flesh, or the will of man,but by the will of God, whose children they all are alike. The Church hasthree special possessions and treasures. The Bible, which proclaims man'sfreedom, Baptism his equality, the Lord's Supper his brotherhood.

At the end of this sermon (which would scarcely cause surprise to-dayif preached by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Chapel Royal), theincumbent got up at the altar and declared his belief that great part ofthe doctrine of the sermon was untrue, and that he had expected a sermon ofan entirely different kind. To a man of the preacher's vehement temperamentit must have required a great effort not to reply at the moment. Thecongregation was keenly excited, and evidently expected him to do so.He only bowed his head, pronounced the blessing, and came down from thepulpit.

I must go back a little to take up the thread of his connection with, andwork for, the Society for Promoting Working Men's Associations. After ithad passed the first difficulties of starting, he was seldom able toattend either Council or Central Board. Every one else felt how much moreimportant and difficult work he was doing by fighting the battle in thepress, down at Eversley, but he himself was eager to take part in theeveryday business, and uneasy if he was not well informed as to what wasgoing on.

Sometimes, however, he would come up to the Council, when any matterspecially interesting to him was in question, as in the following example,when a new member of the Council, an Eton master, had objected to somestrong expressions in one of his letters on the Frimley murder, in the"Christian Socialist":--

1849.--"The upper classes are like a Yankee captain sitting on the safetyvalve, and serenely whistling--but what will be will be. As for the worthyEton parson, I consider it infinitely expedient that he be entreated tovent his whole dislike in the open Council forthwith, under a promise on mypart not to involve him in any controversy or reprisals, or to answer inany tone except that of the utmost courtesy and respect. Pray do this. Itwill at once be a means of gaining him, and a good example, please God,to the working men; and for the Frimley letter, put it in the fire if youlike, or send it back to have the last half re-written, or 'anything elseyou like, my pretty little dear.'"

But his prevailing feeling was getting to be, that he was becoming anoutsider--

"Nobody deigns to tell me," he wrote to me, "how things go on, and whohelps, and whether I can help. In short, I know nothing, and begin to fancythat you, like some others, think me a lukewarm and timeserving aristocrat,after I have ventured more than many, because I had more to venture."

The same feeling comes out in the following letter, which illustratestoo, very well, both his deepest conviction as to the work, the mixtureof playfulness and earnestness with which he handled it, and his humbleestimate of himself. It refers to the question of the admission of a newassociation to the Union. It was necessary, of course, to see that therules of a society, applying for admission to the Union, were in properform, and that sufficient capital was forthcoming, and the decision laywith the Central Board, controlled in some measure by the Council ofPromoters.

An association of clay-pipe makers had applied for admission, and had beenrefused by the vote of the central board. The Council, however, thoughtthere were grounds for reconsidering the decision, and to strengthen thecase for admission, Kingsley's opinion was asked. He replied:--

"EVERSLEY, _May 31, 1850_.

"The sight of your handwriting comforted me--for nobody takes any notice ofme, not even the printers; so I revenge myself by being as idle as a dog,and fishing, and gardening, and basking in this glorious sun. But yourletter set me thanking God that he has raised up men to do the work ofwhich I am not worthy. As for the pipe-makers, give my compliments to theautocrats, and tell them it is a shame. The Vegetarians would have quiteas much right to refuse the Butchers, because, forsooth, theirs is nowdiscovered not to be a necessary trade. Bosh! The question is this--Ifassociation be a great Divine law and duty, the realization of the Churchidea, no man has _a right_ to refuse any body of men, into whose heartGod has put it to come and associate. It may be answered that these men'smotives are self-interested. I say, 'Judge no man.' You dare not refusea heathen baptism because you choose to think that his only motive forturning Christian is the selfish one of saving his own rascally soul. Nomore have you a right to refuse to men an entrance into the social Church.They must come in, and they will, because association is not men's dodgeand invention but God's law for mankind and society, which He has made, andwe must not limit. I don't know whether I am intelligible, but what's moreimportant, I know I am right. Just read this to the autocrats, and tellthem, with my compliments, they are Popes, Tyrants, Manichees, Ascetics,Sectarians, and everything else that is abominable; and if they used asmany pipes as I do, they would know the blessing of getting them cheap,and start an associate baccy factory besides. Shall we try? But, this onelittle mistake excepted (though, if they repeat it, it will become a greatmistake, and a wrong, and a ruinous wrong), they are much better fellowsthan poor I, and doing a great deal more good, and at every fresh news oftheir deeds I feel like Job's horse, when he scents the battle afar off."

No small part of the work of the Council consisted in mediating andarbitrating in the disputes between the associates and their managers;indeed, such work kept the legal members of the board (none of whom werethen overburdened with regular practice) pretty fully occupied. Some suchdispute had arisen in one of the most turbulent of these associations, andhad been referred to me for settlement. I had satisfied myself as to thefacts, and considered my award, and had just begun to write out the draft,when I was called away from my chambers, and left the opening lines lyingon my desk. They ran as follows:--"The Trustees of the Mile End Associationof Engineers, seeing that the quarrels between the associates have notceased"--at which word I broke off. On returning to my chambers a quarterof an hour later, I found a continuation in the following words:--

"And that every man is too much inclined to behave himself like a beast, In spite of our glorious humanity, which requires neither God nor priest, Yet is daily praised and plastered by ten thousand fools at least-- Request Mr. Hughes' presence at their jawshop in the East, Which don't they wish they may get it, for he goes out to-night to feast At the Rev. C. Kingsley's rectory, Chelsea, where he'll get his gullet greased With the best of Barto Valle's port, and will have his joys increased By meeting his old college chum, McDougal the Borneo priest-- So come you thief, and drop your brief, At six o'clock without relief; And if you won't may you come to grief, Says Parson Lot the Socialist Chief, Who signs his mark at the foot of the leaf--thus"

and, at the end, a clenched fist was sketched in a few bold lines, andunder it, "Parson Lot, his mark" written.

I don't know that I can do better than give the history of the rest of theday. Knowing his town habits well, I called at Parker, the publisher's,after chambers, and found him there, sitting on a table and holding forthon politics to our excellent little friend, John Wm. Parker, the juniorpartner.

We started to walk down to Chelsea, and a dense fog came on before we hadreached Hyde Park Corner. Both of us knew the way well; but we lost it halfa dozen times, and his spirit seemed to rise as the fog thickened. "Isn'tthis like life," he said, after one of our blunders: "a deep yellow fog allround, with a dim light here and there shining through. You grope your wayon from one lamp to another, and you go up wrong streets and back again;but you get home at last--there's always light enough for that." After ashort pause he said, quite abruptly, "Tom, do you want to live to be old?"I said I had never thought on the subject; and he went on, "I dread it morethan I can say. To feel one's powers going, and to end in snuff and stink.Look at the last days of Scott and Wordsworth, and Southey." I suggestedSt. John. "Yes," he said, "that's the right thing, and will do for Bunsen,and great, tranquil men like him. The longer they live the better for all.But for an eager, fiery nature like mine, with fierce passions eating one'slife out, it won't do. If I live twenty years I know what will happen tome. The back of my brain will soften, and I shall most likely go blind."

The Bishop got down somehow by six. The dinner did not last long, for thefamily were away, and afterwards we adjourned to the study, and Parson Lotrose to his best. He stood before the fire, while the Bishop and I took thetwo fireside arm chairs, and poured himself out, on subject after subject,sometimes when much moved taking a tramp up and down the room, a longclay pipe in his right hand (at which he gave an occasional suck; it wasgenerally out, but he scarcely noticed it), and his left hand passed behindhis back, clasping the right elbow. It was a favourite attitude with him,when he was at ease with his company.

We were both bent on drawing him out; and the first topic, I think, raisedby the Bishop was, Fronde's history, then recently published. He took upthe cudgels for Henry VIII., whom we accused of arbitrariness. Henry wasnot arbitrary; arbitrary men are the most obstinate of men? Why? Becausethey are weak. The strongest men are always ready to hear reason and changetheir opinions, because the strong man knows that if he loses an opinionto-day he can get just as good a one to-morrow in its place. But the weakman holds on to his opinion, because he can't get another, and he knows it.

Soon afterwards he got upon trout fishing, which was a strong bond of unionbetween him and me, and discoursed on the proper methods of fishing chalkstreams. "Your flies can't be too big, but they must be on small gut, noton base viol fiddle strings, like those you brought down to Farnham lastyear. I tell you gut is the thing that does it. Trout know that flies don'tgo about with a ring and a hand pole through their noses, like so manyprize bulls of Lord Ducie's."

Then he got on the possible effect of association on the future of England,and from that to the first International Exhibition, and the building whichwas going up in Hyde Park.

"I mean to run a muck soon," he said, "against all this talk about geniusand high art, and the rest of it. It will be the ruin of us, as it has beenof Germany. They have been for fifty years finding out, and showing peoplehow to do everything in heaven and earth, and have done nothing. They aredead even yet, and will be till they get out of the high art fit. We weredead, and the French were dead till their revolution; but that brought usto life. Why didn't the Germans come to life too? Because they set to workwith their arts, sciences, and how to do this, that, and the other thing,and doing nothing. Goethe was, in great part, the ruin of Germany. He waslike a great fog coming down on the German people, and wrapping them up."

Then he, in his turn, drew the Bishop about Borneo, and its people, andfauna and flora; and we got some delightful stories of apes, and converts,and honey bears, Kingsley showing himself, by his questions, as familiarwith the Bornean plants and birds, as though he had lived there. Later onwe got him on his own works, and he told us how he wrote. "I can't think,even on scientific subjects, except in the dramatic form. It is what Tomsaid to Harry, and what Harry answered him. I never put pen to paper till Ihave two or three pages in my head, and see them as if they were printed.Then I write them off, and take a turn in the garden, and so on again." Wewandered back to fishing, and I challenged his keenness for making a bag."Ah!" he said, "that's all owing to my blessed habit of intensity, whichhas been my greatest help in life. I go at what I am about as if there werenothing else in the world for the time being. That's the secret of allhard-working men; but most of them can't carry it into their amusements.Luckily for me I can stop from all work, at short notice, and turn headover heels in the sight of all creation, and say, I won't be good or bad,or wise, or anything, till two o'clock to-morrow."

At last the Bishop would go, so we groped our way with him into the King'sRoad, and left him in charge of a link-boy. When we got back, I saidsomething laughingly about his gift of talk, which had struck me more thatevening than ever before.

"Yes," he said, "I have it all in me. I could be as great a talker as anyman in England, but for my stammering. I know it well; but it's a blessedthing for me. You must know, by this time, that I'm a very shy man, andshyness and vanity always go together. And so I think of what every foolwill say of me, and can't help it. When a man's first thought is notwhether a thing is right or wrong, but what will Lady A., or Mr. B. sayabout it, depend upon it he wants a thorn in the flesh, like my stammer.When I am speaking for God, in the pulpit, or praying by bedsides, I neverstammer. My stammer is a blessed thing for me. It keeps me from talking incompany, and from going out as much as I should do but for it."

It was two o'clock before we thought of moving, and then, the fog being asbad as ever, he insisted on making me up a bed on the floor. While we wereengaged in this process, he confided to me that he had heard of a doctorwho was very successful in curing stammering, and was going to try him. Ilaughed, and reminded him of his thorn in the flesh, to which he replied,with a quaint twinkle of his eye, "Well, that's true enough. But a man hasno right to be a nuisance, if he can help it, and no more right to go aboutamongst his fellows stammering, than he has to go about stinking."

At this time he was already at work on another novel; and, in answer to aremonstrance from a friend, who was anxious that he should keep ail hisstrength for social reform, writes--

1851.--"I know that He has made me a parish priest, and that that is theduty which lies nearest me, and that I may seem to be leaving my callingin novel writing. But has He not taught me all these very things _by my_parish priest life? Did He, too, let me become a strong, daring, sporting,wild man of the woods for nothing? Surely the education He has given me sodifferent from that which authors generally receive, points out to me apeculiar calling to preach on these points from my own experience, as itdid to good old Isaac Walton, as it has done in our own day to that trulynoble man, Captain Marryat. Therefore I must believe, '_si tu sequi la tua,stella_,' with Dante, that He who ordained my star will not lead me _into_temptation, but _through_ it, as Maurice says. Without Him all places andmethods of life are equally dangerous--with Him, all equally safe. Pray forme, for in myself I am weaker of purpose than a lost grey hound, lazierthan a dog in rainy weather."

While the co-operative movement was spreading in all directions, the sameimpulse was working amongst the trades unions, and the engineers had setthe example of uniting all their branches into one society. In this winterthey believed themselves strong enough to try conclusions with theiremployers. The great lock-out in January, 1852, was the consequence. Theengineers had appealed to the Council of Promoters to help them in puttingtheir case--which had been much misrepresented--fairly before the public,and Kingsley had been consulted as the person best able to do it. He haddeclined to interfere, and wrote me the following letter to explain hisviews. It will show how far he was an encourager of violent measures orviews:--

"EVERSLEY, _January 28, 1852_.

"You may have been surprised at my having taken no part in this AmalgamatedIron Trades' matter. And I think that I am bound to say why I have not, andhow far I wish my friends to interfere in it.

"I do think that we, the Council of Promoters, shall not be wise ininterfering between masters and men; because--1. I question whether thepoints at issue between them can be fairly understood by any persons notconversant with the practical details of the trade...

"2. Nor do I think they have put their case as well as they might. Forinstance, if it be true that they themselves have invented many, or most,of the improvements in their tools and machinery, they have an argument infavour of keeping out unskilled labourers, which is unanswerable, and yet,that they have never used--viz.: 'Your masters make hundreds and thousandsby these improvements, while we have no remuneration for this inventivetalent of ours, but rather lose by it, because it makes the introductionof unskilled labour more easy. Therefore, the only way in which we can getanything like a payment for this inventive faculty of which we make you apresent over and above our skilled labour, for which you bargained, is todemand that we, who invent the machines, if we cannot have a share in theprofits of them, shall at least have the exclusive privilege of using them,instead of their being, as now, turned against us.' That, I think, is afair argument; but I have seen nothing of it from any speaker or writer.

"3. I think whatever battle is fought, must be fought by the menthemselves. The present dodge of the Manchester school is to cry outagainst us, as Greg did. 'These Christian Socialists are a set of mediaevalparsons, who want to hinder the independence and self-help of the men, andbring them back to absolute feudal maxims; and then, with the most absurdinconsistency, when we get up a corporation workshop, to let the men workon the very independence and self-help of which they talk so fine, theyturn round and raise just the opposite yell, and cry, The men can't beindependent of capitalists; these associations will fail _because_ the menare helping themselves'--showing that what they mean is, that the men shallbe independent of every one but themselves--independent of legislators,parsons, advisers, gentlemen, noblemen, and every one that tries to helpthem by moral agents; but the slaves of the capitalists, bound to them bya servitude increasing instead of lightening with their numbers. Now, theonly way in which we can clear the cause of this calumny is to let the menfight their own battle; to prevent any one saying, 'These men are the toolsof dreamers and fanatics,' which would be just as ruinously blackening tothem in the public eyes, as it would be to let the cry get abroad, 'This isa Socialist movement, destructive of rights of property, communism, LouisBlanc and the devil, &c.' You know the infernal stuff which the devil getsup on such occasions--having no scruples about calling himself hard names,when it suits his purpose, to blind and frighten respectable old women.

"Moreover, these men are not poor distressed needlewomen or slop-workers.They are the most intelligent and best educated workmen, receiving incomesoften higher than a gentleman's son whose education has cost L1000, and ifthey can't fight their own battles, no men in England can, and the peopleare not ripe for association, and we must hark back into the competitiverot heap again. All, then, that we can do is, to give advice when asked--tosee that they have, as far as we can get at them, a clear stage and nofavour, but not by public, but by private influence.

"But we can help them in another way, by showing them the way to associate.That is quite a distinct question from their quarrel with their masters,and we shall be very foolish if we give the press a handle for mixing upthe two. We have a right to say to masters, men, and public, 'We know andcare nothing about the iron strike. Here are a body of men coming to us,wishing to be shown how to do that which is a right thing for them todo--well or ill off, strike or no strike, namely, associate; and we willhelp and teach them to do _that_ to the very utmost of our power.'

"The Iron Workers' co-operative shops will be watched with lynx eyes,calumniated shamelessly. Our business will be to tell the truth about them,and fight manfully with our pens for them. But we shall never be able toget the ears of the respectabilities and the capitalists, if we appear atthis stage of the business. What we must say is, 'If you are needy andenslaved, we will fight for you from pity, whether you be associated orcompetitive. But you are neither needy, nor, unless you choose, enslaved;and therefore we will only fight for you in proportion as you becomeassociates. Do that, and see if we can't stand hard knocks for yoursake.'--Yours ever affectionate, C. KINGSLEY."

In the summer of 1852 (mainly by the continued exertions of the members ofthe Council, who had supplied Mr. Slaney's committee with all his evidence,and had worked hard in other ways for this object) a Bill for legalizingIndustrial Associations was about to be introduced into the House ofCommons. It was supposed at one time that it would be taken in hand by theGovernment of Lord Derby, then lately come into office, and Kingsley hadbeen canvassing a number of persons to make sure of its passing. On hearingthat a Cabinet Minister would probably undertake it, he writes--

"Let him be assured that he will by such a move do more to carry out trueConservatism, and to reconcile the workmen with the real aristocracy, thanany politician for the last twenty years has done. The truth is, we are ina critical situation here in England. Not in one of danger--which is thevulgar material notion of a crisis, but at the crucial point, the point ofdeparture of principles and parties which will hereafter become great andpowerful. Old Whiggery is dead, old true blue Toryism of the Robert Inglisschool is dead too-and in my eyes a great loss. But as live dogs are betterthan dead lions, let us see what the live dogs are.

"1.--The Peelites, who will ultimately, be sure, absorb into themselves allthe remains of Whiggery, and a very large proportion of the Conservativeparty. In an effete unbelieving age, like this, the Sadducee and theHerodian will be the most captivating philosopher. A scientific laziness,lukewarmness, and compromise, is a cheery theory for the young men ofthe day, and they will take to it _con amore_. I don't complain of Peelhimself. He was a great man, but his method of compromise, though usefulenough in particular cases when employed by a great man, becomes a mostdastardly "_schema mundi_" when taken up by a school of little men.Therefore the only help which we can hope for from the Peelites is thatthey will serve as ballast and cooling pump to both parties, but their verytrimming and moderation make them fearfully likely to obtain power. Itdepends on the wisdom of the present government, whether they do or not.

"2.--Next you have the Manchester school, from whom Heaven defend us; forof all narrow, conceited, hypocritical, and anarchic and atheistic schemesof the universe, the Cobden and Bright one is exactly the worst. I have nolanguage to express my contempt for it, and therefore I quote what Mauricewrote me this morning. 'If the Ministry would have thrown Protection tothe dogs (as I trust they have, in spite of the base attempts of the CornLaw Leaguers to goad them to committing themselves to it, and to hold themup as the people's enemies), and thrown themselves into social measures,who would not have clung to them, to avert that horrible catastropheof a Manchester ascendency, which I believe in my soul would be fatalto intellect, morality, and freedom, and will be more likely to move arebellion among the working men than any Tory rule which can be conceived.'

"Of course it would. To pretend to be the workmen's friends, by keepingdown the price of bread, when all they want thereby is to keep down wages,and increase profits, and in the meantime to widen the gulf between theworking man and all that is time-honoured, refined, and chivalrous inEnglish society, that they may make the men their divided slaves, thatis-perhaps half unconsciously, for there are excellent men amongstthem--the game of the Manchester School."

"I have never swerved from my one idea of the last seven years, that thereal battle of the time is, if England is to be saved from anarchy andunbelief, and utter exhaustion caused by the competitive enslavement ofthe masses, not Radical or Whig against Peelite or Tory--let the dead burytheir dead-but the Church, the gentlemen, and the workman, against theshop-keepers and the Manchester School. The battle could not have beenfought forty years ago, because, on one side, the Church was an idlephantasm, the gentleman too ignorant, the workman too merely animal; while,on the other, the Manchester cotton-spinners were all Tories, and theshopkeepers were a distinct class interest from theirs. But now thesetwo latter have united, and the sublime incarnation of shop-keeping andlabour-buying in the cheapest market shines forth in the person of Moses &Son, and both cotton-spinners and shop-keepers say 'This is the man!'" andjoin in one common press to defend his system. Be it so: now we know ourtrue enemies, and soon the working-men will know them also. But if thepresent Ministry will not see the possibility of a coalition between them,and the workmen, I see no alternative but just what we have been strainingevery nerve to keep off--a competitive United States, a democracy beforewhich the work of ages will go down in a few years. A true democracy, suchas you and I should wish to see, is impossible without a Church and aQueen, and, as I believe, without a gentry. On the conduct of statesmen itwill depend whether we are gradually and harmoniously to develop Englandon her ancient foundations, or whether we are to have fresh paralyticgovernments succeeding each other in doing nothing, while the workmen andthe Manchester School fight out the real questions of the day in ignoranceand fury, till the '_culbute generale_' comes, and gentlemen of ancientfamily, like your humble servant, betake themselves to Canada, to escape,not the Amalgamated Engineers, but their 'masters,' and the slop-workingsavages whom their masters' system has created, and will by that time havemultiplied tenfold.

"I have got a Thames boat on the lake at Bramshill, and am enjoyingvigorous sculls. My answer to 'Fraser' is just coming out; spread it whereyou can."

In the next year or two the first excitement about the co-operativemovement cooled down. Parson Lot's pen was less needed, and he turned toother work in his own name. Of the richness and variety of that work thisis not the place to speak, but it all bore on the great social problemswhich had occupied him in the earlier years. The Crimean war weighed onhim like a nightmare, and modified some of his political opinions. On theresignation of Lord Aberdeen's Government on the motion for inquiry intothe conduct of the war, he writes, February 5, 1855, "It is a very bad job,and a very bad time, be sure, and with a laughing House of Commons we shallgo to Gehenna, even if we are not there already--But one comfort is, thateven Gehenna can burn nothing but the chaff and carcases, so we shall benone the poorer in reality. So as the frost has broken gloriously, I wishyou would get me a couple of dozen of good flies, viz., cock a bondhues,red palmers with plenty of gold twist; winged duns, with bodies of hare'sear and yellow mohair mixed well; hackle duns with grey bodies, and a weesilver, these last tied as palmers, and the silver ribbed all the way down.If you could send them in a week I shall be very glad, as fishing beginsearly."

In the midst of the war he was present one day at a council meeting, afterwhich the manager of one of the associations referring to threatened breadriots at Manchester, asked Kingsley's opinion as to what should be done."There never were but two ways," he said, "since the beginning of the worldof dealing with a corn famine. One is to let the merchants buy it up andhold it as long as they can, as we do. And this answers the purpose best inthe long run, for they will be selling corn six months hence when we shallwant it more than we do now, and makes us provident against our wills.The other is Joseph's plan." Here the manager broke in, "Why didn't ourGovernment step in then, and buy largely, and store in public granaries?""Yes," said Kingsley, "and why ain't you and I flying about with wings anddewdrops hanging to our tails. Joseph's plan won't do for us. What ministerwould we trust with money enough to buy corn for the people, or power tobuy where he chose." And he went on to give his questioner a lecture inpolitical economy, which the most orthodox opponent of the popular notionsabout Socialism would have applauded to the echo.

By the end of the year he had nearly finished "Westward Ho!"--the mostpopular of his novels, which the war had literally wrung out of him. Hewrites--

? "_December 18, 1855_.

"I am getting more of a Government man every day. I don't see how theycould have done better in any matter, because I don't see but that _I_should have done a thousand times worse in their place, and that is theonly fair standard.

"As for a ballad--oh! my dear lad, there is no use fiddling while Rome isburning. I have nothing to sing about those glorious fellows, except 'Godsave the Queen and them.' I tell you the whole thing stuns me, so I cannotsit down to make fiddle rhyme with diddle about it--or blundered withhundred like Alfred Tennyson. He is no Tyrtaeus, though he has a glimpse ofwhat Tyrtaeus ought to be. But I have not even that; and am going rabbitshooting to-morrow instead. But every man has his calling, and my novelis mine, because I am fit for nothing better. The book" ('Westward Ho!')"will be out the middle or end of January, if the printers choose. It isa sanguinary book, but perhaps containing doctrine profitable for thesetimes. My only pain is that I have been forced to sketch poor Paddy as avery worthless fellow then, while just now he is turning out a hero. I havemade the deliberate _amende honorable_ in a note."

Then, referring to some criticism of mine on 'Westward Ho!'--"I suppose youare right as to Amyas and his mother; I will see to it. You are probablyright too about John Hawkins. The letter in Purchas is to me unknown,but your conception agrees with a picture my father says he has seen ofCaptain John (he thinks at Lord Anglesey's, at Beaudesert) as a prim, hard,terrier-faced, little fellow, with a sharp chin, and a dogged Puritan eye.So perhaps I am wrong: but I don't think _that_ very important, for theremust have been sea-dogs of my stamp in plenty too." Then, referring to theCrimean war--"I don't say that the two cases are parallel. I don't askEngland to hate Russia as she was bound to hate Spain, as God's enemy; butI do think that a little Tudor pluck and Tudor democracy (paradoxical asthe word may seem, and inconsistently as it was carried out then) is justwhat we want now."

"Tummas! Have you read the story of Abou Zennab, his horse, in Stanley's'Sinai,' p. 67? What a myth! What a poem old Wordsworth would have writthereon! If I didn't cry like a babby over it. What a brick of a horse hemust have been, and what a brick of an old head-splitter Abou Zennab musthave been, to have his commandments keeped unto this day concerning of hishorse; and no one to know who he was, nor when, nor how, nor nothing. Iwonder if anybody'll keep _our_ commandments after we be gone, much lesssay, 'Eat, eat, O horse of Abou Kingsley!'"

By this time the success of "Westward Ho!" and "Hypatia" had placed him inthe first rank of English writers. His fame as an author, and his characteras a man, had gained him a position which might well have turned any man'shead. There were those amongst his intimate friends who feared that itmight be so with him, and who were faithful enough to tell him so. And Icannot conclude this sketch better than by giving his answer to that oneof them with whom he had been most closely associated in the time when, asParson Lot, every man's hand had been against him--

"MY DEAR LUDLOW,

"And for this fame, &c.,

"I know a little of her worth.

"And I will tell you what I know,

"That, in the first place, she is a fact, and as such, it is not wise toignore her, but at least to walk once round her, and see her back as wellas her front.

"The case to me seems to be this. A man feels in himself the love ofpraise. Every man does who is not a brute. It is a universal human faculty;Carlyle nicknames it the sixth sense. Who made it? God or the devil? Isit flesh or spirit? a difficult question; because tamed animals grow topossess it in a high degree; and our metaphysician does not yet allowthem spirit. But, whichever it be, it cannot be for bad: only bad whenmisdirected, and not controlled by reason, the faculty which judges betweengood and evil. Else why has God put His love of praise into the heart ofevery child which is born into the world, and entwined it into the holiestfilial and family affections, as the earliest mainspring of good actions?Has God appointed that every child shall be fed first with a necessarylie, and afterwards come to the knowledge of your supposed truth, that thepraise of God alone is to be sought? Or are we to believe that the child isintended to be taught as delicately and gradually as possible the painfulfact, that the praise of all men is not equally worth having, and to usehis critical faculty to discern the praise of good men from the praiseof bad, to seek the former and despise the latter? I should say that thelast was the more reasonable. And this I will say, that if you bring upany child to care nothing for the praise of its parents, its elders, itspastors, and masters, you may make a fanatic of it, or a shameless cynic:but you will neither make it a man, an Englishman, or a Christian.

"But 'our Lord's words stand, about not seeking the honour which comes frommen, but the honour which comes from God only!' True, they do stand, andour Lord's fact stands also, the fact that He has created every child tobe educated by an honour which comes from his parents and elders. Both aretrue. Here, as in most spiritual things, you have an antinomia, an apparentcontradiction, which nothing but the Gospel solves. And it does solve it;and your one-sided view of the text resolves itself into just the samefallacy as the old ascetic one. 'We must love God alone, therefore we mustlove no created thing.' To which St. John answers pertinently 'He wholoveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hathnot seen?' If you love your brethren, you love Christ in them. If you lovetheir praise, you love the praise of Christ in them. For consider this,you cannot deny that, if one loves any person, one desires that person'sesteem. But we are bound to love all men, and that is our highest state.Therefore, in our highest state, we shall desire all men's esteem.Paradoxical, but true. If we believe in Christmas-day; if we believe inWhitsunday, we shall believe that Christ is in all men, that God's spiritis abroad in the earth, and therefore the dispraise, misunderstanding, andcalumny of men will be exquisitely painful to us, and ought to be so; and,on the other hand, the esteem of men, and renown among men for doing gooddeeds will be inexpressibly precious to us. They will be signs and warrantsto us that God is pleased with us, that we are sharing in that 'honour andglory' which Paul promises again and again, with no such scruples as yours,to those who lead heroic lives. We shall not neglect the voice of Godwithin us; but we shall remember that there is also a voice of God withoutus, which we must listen to; and that in a Christian land, _vox populi_,patiently and discriminately listened to, is sure to be found not far offfrom the _vox Dei_.

"Now, let me seriously urge this last fact on you. Of course, in listeningto the voice of the man outside there is a danger, as there is in the useof any faculty. You may employ it, according to Divine reason and grace,for ennobling and righteous purposes; or you may degrade it to carnal andselfish ones; so you may degrade the love of praise into vanity, intolonging for the honour which comes from men, by pandering to their passionsand opinions, by using your powers as they would too often like to usetheirs, for mere self-aggrandisement, by saying in your heart--_quampulchrum digito monstrari el diceri hic est_. That is the man who wrote thefine poem, who painted the fine picture, and so forth, till, by giving wayto this, a man may give way to forms of vanity as base as the red Indianwho sticks a fox's tail on, and dances about boasting of his brute cunning.I know all about that, as well as any poor son of Adam ever did. But Iknow, too, that to desire the esteem of as many rational men as possible;in a word, to desire an honourable, and true renown for having done goodin my generation, has nothing to do with that; and the more I fear andstruggle against the former, the more I see the exceeding beauty anddivineness, and everlasting glory of the latter as an entrance into thecommunion of saints.

"Of course, all this depends on whether we do believe that Christ is inevery man, and that God's spirit is abroad in the earth. Of course, again,it will be very difficult to know who speaks by God's spirit, and whosees by Christ's light in him; but surely the wiser, the humbler path, isto give men credit for as much wisdom and rightness as possible, and tobelieve that when one is found fault with, one is probably in the wrong.For myself, on Looking back, I see clearly with shame and sorrow, that theobloquy which I have brought often on myself and on the good cause, hasbeen almost all of it my own fault--that I have given the devil and badmen a handle, not by caring what people would say, but by _not caring_--byfancying that I was a very grand fellow, who was going to speak what I knewto be true, in spite of all fools (and really did and do intend so to do),while all the while I was deceiving myself, and unaware of a canker atthe heart the very opposite to the one against which you warn me. I meanthe proud, self-willed, self-conceited spirit which made no allowance forother men's weakness or ignorance; nor again, for their superior experienceand wisdom on points which I had never considered--which took a pride inshocking and startling, and defying, and hitting as hard as I could, andfancied, blasphemously, as I think, that the word of God had come to meonly, and went out from me only. God forgive me for these sins, as wellas for my sins in the opposite direction; but for these sins especially,because I see them to be darker and more dangerous than the others.

"For there has been gradually revealed to me (what my many readings in thelives of fanatics and ascetics ought to have taught me long before), thatthere is a terrible gulf ahead of that not caring what men say. Of courseit is a feeling on which the spirit must fall back in hours of need, andcry, 'Thou, God, knowest mine integrity. I have believed, and therefore Iwill speak; thou art true, though all men be liars!' But I am convincedthat that is a frame in which no man can live, or is meant to live;that it is only to be resorted to in fear and trembling, after deepestself-examination, and self-purification, and earnest prayer. For otherwise,Ludlow, a man gets to forget that voice of God without him, in hisdetermination to listen to nothing but the voice of God within him, and sohe falls into two dangers. He forgets that there is a voice of God withouthim. He loses trust in, and charity to, and reverence for his fellow-men;he learns to despise, deny, and quench the Spirit, and to despiseprophesyings, and so becomes gradually cynical, sectarian, fanatical.

"And then comes a second and worse danger. Crushed into self, and his ownconscience and _schema mundi_, he loses the opportunity of correcting hisimpression of the voice of God within, by the testimony of the voice of Godwithout; and so he begins to mistake more and more the voice of that veryflesh of his, which he fancies he has conquered, for the voice of God,and to become, without knowing it, an autotheist. And out of that springseclecticism, absence of tenderness _for_ men, for want of sympathy _with_men; as he makes his own conscience his standard for God, so he makes hisown character the standard for men; and so he becomes narrow, hard, andif he be a man of strong will and feelings, often very inhuman and cruel.This is the history of thousands-of Jeromes, Lauds, Puritans who scourgedQuakers, Quakers who cursed Puritans; nonjurors, who though they would dierather than offend their own conscience in owning William, would plot withJames to murder William, or to devastate England with Irish Rapparees andAuvergne dragoons. This, in fact, is the spiritual diagnosis of those manypious persecutors, who though neither hypocrites or blackguards themselves,have used both as instruments of their fanaticism.

"Against this I have to guard myself, you little know how much, and toguard my children still more, brought up, as they will be, under a father,who, deeply discontented with the present generation, cannot but expressthat discontent at times. To make my children '_banausoi_,' insolent andscoffing radicals, believing in nobody and nothing but themselves, would beperfectly easy in me if I were to make the watchword of my house, 'Nevermind what people say.' On the contrary, I shall teach them that there areplenty of good people in the world; that public opinion has pretty surelyan undercurrent of the water of life, below all its froth and garbage;and that in a Christian country like this, where, with all faults, a man(sooner or later) has fair play and a fair hearing, the esteem of good men,and the blessings of the poor, will be a pretty sure sign that they havethe blessing of God also; and I shall tell them, when they grow older, thatere they feel called on to become martyrs, in defending the light withinthem against all the world, they must first have taken care most patiently,and with all self-distrust and humility, to make full use of the lightwhich is around them, and has been here for ages before them, and would behere still, though they had never been born or thought of. The antinomybetween this and their own conscience may be painful enough to them someday. To what thinking man is it not a life-long battle? but I shall notdream that by denying one pole of the antinomy I can solve it, or doanything but make them, by cynicism or fanaticism, bury their talent in theearth, and _not_ do the work which God has given them to do, because theywill act like a parson who, before beginning his sermon, should first kickhis congregation out of doors, and turn the key; and not like St. Paul, whobecame all things to all men, if by any means he might save some.

"Yours ever affectionately, with all Christmas blessings,

"C. KINGSLEY.

"FARLY COURT, _December 26, 1855_.

"I should be very much obliged to you to show this letter to Maurice."

One more letter only I will add, dated about the end of the "Parson Lot"period. He had written to inform me that one of the old Chartist leaders,a very worthy fellow, was in great distress, and to ask me to do what Icould for him. In my reply I had alluded somewhat bitterly to the apparentfailure of the Association movement in London, and to some of our blunders,acknowledging how he had often seen the weak places, and warned us againstthem. His answer came by return of post:--

"EVERSLEY, _May, 1856_.

"DEAR TOM,--It's an ill bird that fouls its own nest; and don't crystinking fish, neither don't hollow till you're out of the wood--which yououghtn't to have called yourself Tom fool, and blasphemed the holy namethereby, till you knowed you was sich, which you wasn't, as appears byparticulars. And I have heard from T---- twice to-day, and he is agreeable,which, if he wasn't, he is an ass, and don't know half a loaf is betterthan no bread, and you musn't look a gift horse in the mouth, but all is asright as a dog-fox down wind and vi. _millia passuum_, to the next gorse.But this L25 of his is a grueller, and I learnt with interest that you areinclined to get the fishes nose out of the weed. I have offered to lend himL10--hopes it may be lending--and have written a desperate begging letterto R. Monckton Milnes, Esq., which 'evins prosper. Poor T---- says to-nightthat he has written to Forster about it--which he must have the small ofhis back very hard against the ropes so to do, so the sooner we get theginger-beer bottle out the longer he'll fight, or else he'll throw up thesponge at once; for I know his pride. I think we can raise it somehow. Ihave a last card in old ----, the judge who tried and condemned him, and isthe dearest old soul alive, only he will have it T---- showed dunghill, anddon't carry a real game nackle. If I am to tackle he you must send me backthose letters to appeal to his piety and 'joys as does abound,' as yourincomparable father remarks. When _will_ you give me that canticle? Hesays Tom Taylor (I believe all the world is called Thomas) has behaved tohim like a brother, which, indeed, was to be expexed, and has promisedhim copying at a shilling an hour, and _will_ give him a chop daily freegracious; but the landlord won't wait, which we musn't neither.

"Now, business afore pleasure. You are an old darling, and who says no,I'd kick him, if it warn't for my cloth; but you are green in cottoning tome about our '48 mess. Because why? I lost nothing--I risked nothing. Youfellows worked like bricks, spent money, and got midshipman's half-pay(nothing a-day and find yourself), and monkey's allowance (more kicks thanhalfpence). I risked no money; 'cause why, I had none; but _made_ money outof the movement, and fame too. I've often thought what a dirty beast I was.I made L150 by Alton Locke, and never lost a farthing; and I got, not inspite of, but by the rows, a name and a standing with many a one who wouldnever have heard of me otherwise, and I should have been a stercoraceousmendicant if I had hollowed when I got a facer, while I was winning by thecross, though I didn't mean to fight one. No. And if I'd had L100,000, I'dhave, and should have, staked and lost it all in 1848-50. I should, Tom,for my heart was and is in it, and you'll see it will beat yet; but weain't the boys. We don't see but half the bull's eye yet, and don't see_at all_ the policeman which is a going on his beat behind the bull's eye,and no thanks to us. Still, _some_ somedever, it's in the fates, thatAssociation is the pure caseine, and must be eaten by the human race if itwould save its soul alive, which, indeed, it will; only don't you think mea good fellow for not crying out, when I never had more to do than scratchmyself and away went the fleas. But you all were real bricks; and if youwere riled, why let him that is without sin cast the first stone, or let mecast it for him, and see if I don't hit him in the eye.

"Now to business; I have had a sorter kinder sample day. Up at 5, to see adying man; ought to have been up at 2, but Ben King the rat-catcher, whocame to call me, was taken nervous!!! and didn't make row enough; was from5.30 to 6.30 with the most dreadful case of agony--insensible to me, butnot to his pain. Came home, got a wash and a pipe, and again to him at8. Found him insensible to his own pain, with dilated pupils, dying ofpressure of the brain--going any moment. Prayed the commendatory prayersover him, and started for the river with West. Fished all the morningin a roaring N.E. gale, with the dreadful agonized face between me andthe river, pondering on THE mystery. Killed eight on 'March brown' and'governor,' by drowning the flies, and taking _'em out gently to see_ ifought was there--which is the only dodge in a north-easter. 'Cause why? Thewater is warmer than the air--_ergo_, fishes don't like to put their nosesout o' doors, and feeds at home down stairs. It is the only wrinkle, Tom.The captain fished a-top, and caught but three all day. They weren't goingto catch a cold in their heads to please him or any man. Clouds burn up at1 P.M. I put on a minnow, and kill three more; I should have had lots, butfor the image of the dirty hickory stick, which would 'walk the waters likea thing of life,' just ahead of my minnow. Mem.--Never fish with the sun inyour back; it's bad enough with a fly, but with a minnow it's strichnineand prussic acid. My eleven weighed together four and a-half pounds--threeto the pound; not good, considering I had spased many a two-pound fish, I_know_.

"Corollary.--Brass minnow don't suit the water. Where is your wonderfulminnow? Send him me down, or else a _horn_ one, which I believes indesperate; but send me something before Tuesday, and I will send you P.O.O.Horn minnow looks like a gudgeon, which is the pure caseine. One pounder Icaught to-day on the 'March brown' womited his wittles, which was rude, butinstructive; and among worms was a gudgeon three inches long and more. Blowminnows--gudgeon is the thing.

"Came off the water at 3. Found my man alive, and, thank God, quiet. Satwith him, and thought him going once or twice. What a mystery that long,insensible death-struggle is! Why should they be so long about it? Then hadto go Hartley Row for an Archdeacon's Sunday-school meeting--three hoursuseless (I fear) speechifying and 'shop'; but the Archdeacon is a goodman, and works like a brick beyond his office. Got back at 10:30, and sitwriting to you. So goes one's day. All manner of incongruous things todo--and the very incongruity keeps one beany and jolly. Your letter wasdelightful. I read part of it to West, who says, you are the best fellow onearth, to which I agree.

"So no more from your sleepy and tired--C. KINGSLEY."

This was almost the last letter I ever received from him in the Parson Lotperiod of his life, with which alone this notice has to do. It shows, Ithink, very clearly that it was not that he had deserted his flag (as hasbeen said) or changed his mind about the cause for which he had fought sohard and so well. His heart was in it still as warmly as ever, as he sayshimself. But the battle had rolled away to another part of the field.Almost all that Parson Lot had ever striven for was already gained. Theworking-classes had already got statutory protection for their tradeassociations, and their unions, though still outside the law, had becomestrong enough to fight their own battles. And so he laid aside his fightingname and his fighting pen, and had leisure to look calmly on the greatstruggle more as a spectator than an actor.

A few months later, in the summer of 1856, when he and I were talkingover and preparing for a week's fishing in the streams and lakes of hisfavourite Snowdonia, he spoke long and earnestly in the same key. I wellremember how he wound it all up with, "the long and short of it is, I ambecoming an optimist. All men, worth anything, old men especially, havestrong fits of optimism--even Carlyle has--because they can't help hoping,and sometimes feeling, that the world is going right, and will go right,not your way, or my way, but its own way. Yes; we've all tried ourHolloway's Pills, Tom, to cure all the ills of all the world--and we'veall found out I hope by this time that the tough old world has more inits inside than any Holloway's Pills will clear out." A few weeks later Ireceived the following invitation to Snowdon, and to Snowdon we went in theautumn of 1856.

THE INVITATION.

Come away with me, Tom, Term and talk is done; My poor lads are reaping, Busy every one. Curates mind the parish, Sweepers mind the Court, We'll away to Snowdon For our ten days' sport, Fish the August evening Till the eve is past, Whoop like boys at pounders Fairly played and grassed. When they cease to dimple, Lunge, and swerve, and leap, Then up over Siabod Choose our nest, and sleep. Up a thousand feet, Tom, Round the lion's head, Find soft stones to leeward And make up our bed. Bat our bread and bacon, Smoke the pipe of peace, And, ere we be drowsy, Give our boots a grease. Homer's heroes did so, Why not such as we? What are sheets and servants? Superfluity. Pray for wives and children Safe in slumber curled, Then to chat till midnight O'er this babbling world. Of the workmen's college, Of the price of grain, Of the tree of knowledge, Of the chance of rain; If Sir A. goes Romeward, If Miss B. sings true, If the fleet comes homeward, If the mare will do,-- Anything and everything-- Up there in the sky Angels understand us, And no "_saints_" are by. Down, and bathe at day-dawn, Tramp from lake to lake, Washing brain and heart clean Every step we take. Leave to Robert Browning Beggars, fleas, and vines; Leave to mournful Ruskin Popish Apennines, Dirty Stones of Venice And his Gas-lamps Seven; We've the stones of Snowdon And the lamps of heaven. Where's the mighty credit In admiring Alps? Any goose sees "glory" In their "snowy scalps." Leave such signs and wonders For the dullard brain, As aesthetic brandy, Opium, and cayenne; Give me Bramshill common (St. John's harriers by), Or the vale of Windsor, England's golden eye. Show me life and progress, Beauty, health, and man; Houses fair, trim gardens, Turn where'er I can. Or, if bored with "High Art," And such popish stuff, One's poor ears need airing, Snowdon's high enough. While we find God's signet Fresh on English ground, Why go gallivanting With the nations round? Though we try no ventures Desperate or strange; Feed on common-places In a narrow range; Never sought for Franklin Round the frozen Capes; Even, with Macdougall, Bagged our brace of apes; Never had our chance, Tom, In that black Redan; Can't avenge poor Brereton Out in Sakarran; Tho' we earn our bread, Tom, By the dirty pen, What we can we will be, Honest Englishmen. Do the work that's nearest, Though it's dull at whiles; Helping, when we meet them Lame dogs over stiles; See in every hedgerow Marks of angels' feet, Epics in each pebble Underneath our feet; Once a-year, like schoolboys, Robin-Hooding go. Leaving fops and fogies A thousand feet below.

T. H.

CHEAP CLOTHES AND NASTY.

King Ryence, says the legend of Prince Arthur, wore a paletot trimmed withkings' beards. In the first French Revolution (so Carlyle assures us)there were at Meudon tanneries of human skins. Mammon, at once tyrant andrevolutionary, follows both these noble examples--in a more respectableway, doubtless, for Mammon hates cruelty; bodily pain is his devil--theworst evil of which he, in his effeminacy, can conceive. So he shrieksbenevolently when a drunken soldier is flogged; but he trims hispaletots, and adorns his legs, with the flesh of men and the skins ofwomen, with degradation, pestilence, heathendom, and despair; and thenchuckles self-complacently over the smallness of his tailors' bills.Hypocrite!--straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel! What is flogging,or hanging, King Ryence's paletot, or the tanneries of Meudon, to theslavery, starvation, waste of life, year-long imprisonment in dungeonsnarrower and fouler than those of the Inquisition, which goes on amongthousands of free English clothes-makers at this day?

"The man is mad," says Mammon, smiling supercilious pity. Yes, Mammon; madas Paul before Festus; and for much the same reason, too. Much learning hasmade us mad. From two articles in the "Morning Chronicle" of Friday, Dec.14th, and Tuesday, Dec. 18th, on the Condition of the Working Tailors,we learnt too much to leave us altogether masters of ourselves. But thereis method in our madness; we can give reasons for it--satisfactory toourselves, perhaps also to Him who made us, and you, and all tailorslikewise. Will you, freshly bedizened, you and your footmen, fromNebuchadnezzar and Co.'s "Emporium of Fashion," hear a little about howyour finery is made? You are always calling out for facts, and have a firmbelief in salvation by statistics. Listen to a few.

The Metropolitan Commissioner of the "Morning Chronicle" called twomeetings of the Working Tailors, one in Shad well, and the other at theHanover Square Rooms, in order to ascertain their condition from theirown lips. Both meetings were crowded. At the Hanover Square Rooms therewere more than one thousand men; they were altogether unanimous in theirdescriptions of the misery and slavery which they endured. It appearsthat there are two distinct tailor trades--the "honourable" trade, nowalmost confined to the West End, and rapidly dying out there, and the"dishonourable" trade of the show-shops and slop-shops--the plate-glasspalaces, where gents--and, alas! those who would be indignant at thatname--buy their cheap-and-nasty clothes. The two names are the tailors'own slang; slang is true and expressive enough, though, now and then. Thehonourable shops in the West End number only sixty; the dishonourable, fourhundred and more; while at the East End the dishonourable trade has it allits own way. The honourable part of the trade is declining at the rate ofone hundred and fifty journeymen per year; the dishonourable increasing atsuch a rate that, in twenty years it will have absorbed the whole tailoringtrade, which employs upwards of twenty-one thousand journeymen. At thehonourable shops the work is done, as it was universally thirty years ago,on the premises and at good wages. In the dishonourable trade, the work istaken home by the men, to be done at the very lowest possible prices, whichdecrease year by year, almost month by month. At the honourable shops, from36s. to 24s. is paid for a piece of work for which the dishonourable shoppays from 22s. to 9s. But not to the workmen; happy is he if he reallygets two-thirds, or half of that. For at the honourable shops, the masterdeals directly with his workmen; while at the dishonourable ones, thegreater part of the work, if not the whole, is let out to contractors, ormiddle-men--"_sweaters_," as their victims significantly call them--who, intheir turn, let it out again, sometimes to the workmen, sometimes to freshmiddlemen; so that out of the price paid for labour on each article, notonly the workmen, but the sweater, and perhaps the sweater's sweater, and athird, and a fourth, and a fifth, have to draw their profit. And when thelabour price has been already beaten down to the lowest possible, how muchremains for the workmen after all these deductions, let the poor fellowsthemselves say!

One working tailor (at the Hanover Square Rooms Meeting) "mentioned anumber of shops, both at the east and west ends, whose work was alltaken by sweaters; and several of these shops were under royal and noblepatronage. There was one notorious sweater who kept his carriage. He was aJew, and, of course, he gave a preference to his own sect. Thus, anotherJew received it from him second hand and at a lower rate; then it went to athird-till it came to the unfortunate Christian at perhaps the eighth rate,and he performed the work at barely living prices; this same Jew required adeposit of 5_l_. in money before he would give out a single garment to bemade. He need not describe the misery which this system entailed upon theworkmen. It was well known, but it was almost impossible, except for thosewho had been at the two, to form an idea of the difference between thepresent meeting and one at the East-end, where all who attended worked forslop-shops and sweaters. The present was a highly respectable assembly; theother presented no other appearance but those of misery and degradation."

Another says--"We have all worked in the honourable trade, so we know theregular prices from our own personal experience. Taking the bad work withthe good work we might earn 11s. a week upon an average. Sometimes we doearn as much as 15s.; but, to do this, we are obliged to take part of ourwork home to our wives and daughters. We are not always fully employed. Weare nearly half our time idle. Hence, our earnings are, upon an averagethroughout the year, not more than 5s. 6d. a week." "Very often I have madeonly 3s. 4d. in the week," said one. "That's common enough with us all, Ican assure you," said another. "Last week my wages was 7s. 6d.," declaredone. "I earned 6s. 4d.," exclaimed the second. "My wages came to 9s. 2d.The week before I got 6s. 3d." "I made 7s. 9d.," and "I 7s. or 8s., I can'texactly remember which." "This is what we term the best part of our winterseason. The reason why we are so long idle is because more hands thanare wanted are kept on the premises, so that in case of a press of workcoming in, our employers can have it done immediately. Under the day worksystem no master tailor had more men on the premises than he could keepcontinually going; but since the change to the piecework system, mastersmade a practice of engaging double the quantity of hands that theyhave any need for, so that an order may be executed 'at the shortestpossible notice,' if requisite. A man must not leave the premises when,unemployed,--if he does, he loses his chance of work coming in. I have beenthere four days together, and had not a stitch of work to do." "Yes; thatis common enough." "Ay, and then you're told, if you complain, you can go,if you don't like it. I am sure twelve hands would do all they have done athome, and yet they keep forty of us. It's generally remarked that, howeverstrong and healthy a man may be when he goes to work at that shop, in amonth's time he'll be a complete shadow, and have almost all his clothes inpawn. By Sunday morning, he has no money at all left, and he has to subsisttill the following Saturday upon about a pint of weak tea, and four slicesof bread and butter per day!!!"

"Another of the reasons for the sweaters keeping more hands than they wantis, the men generally have their meals with them. The more men they havewith them the more breakfasts and teas they supply, and the more profit